alt.hn

5/31/2026 at 5:04:10 PM

Deflock hits 100k ALPRs Mapped in USA

 https://deflock.org/

by pilingual

5/31/2026 at 8:27:17 PM

The 100k figure is an overestimate by a few percent. The OpenStreetMap data for ALPRs is pretty good, but there is some duplication. I (recently) programmatically identified ~2.5k such instances. https://pickpj.github.io/Mapping/FIock/similar.html It has openstreetmap links attached for those who want to help fix the data.

by gentile

5/31/2026 at 5:17:15 PM

Nice to see some pushback in the most egregious abuses of privacy. I wonder why we are getting this with Flock but not seeing the same with private security cameras such as Ring, pervasive tracking of mobile devices by carriers and apps, and internet browser tracking. Is it just that there's a direct personal benefit with those devices, and people view the trade-off as being worth it?

by SoftTalker

5/31/2026 at 6:23:12 PM

I don’t think people realize that these devices can even be used that way. I talk with people outside of the tech scene frequently, and they are routinely surprised when I tell them about this sort of capability. The ring doorbell Super Bowl commercial about finding lost dogs was a genuine shock to people! I think there’s a degree of visibility you need to get people’s attention on an issue, and it’s just difficult to see a doorbell as a threat for the average person.

by malwrar

5/31/2026 at 6:31:09 PM

I so want to push back that all this is too little too late, because the system ,though still distributed , is effectively in place already. But.. I also don't want to be the old guy telling kids not to rebel. After all, being young and thinking ( knowing! ) one can change the world, is what being young human is all about. FWIW, it may well be their version of decss, ows and so on.

On the other hand, come to think of it, despite OWS being broken up by fancy new approaches ( rumor has it, Walls Street got spooked enough to see what effective methods can be employed given that Pinkerton approach would have been frowned upon then ), I don't recall FBI marking the participants in any special way ( please correct me if I am missting anything ).

by iugtmkbdfil834

5/31/2026 at 7:12:31 PM

With a nationwide effort in swing to dismantle corporate surveillance, the follow up is to pass legislation state by state that prohibits its implementation in the future. Federal legislation on this matter is unlikely to occur until sometime after midterms, and so state legislation is the path to success in the interim.

by toomuchtodo

5/31/2026 at 7:18:17 PM

We voted out the cameras locally, the feds just installed them at every nook and cranny they had available. Turned out, there was a lot of federal property, so it was back to square one.

by mothballed

5/31/2026 at 7:31:08 PM

Regime change is coming, its harm reduction until then.

by toomuchtodo

5/31/2026 at 6:19:24 PM

> Is it just that there's a direct personal benefit with those devices, and people view the trade-off as being worth it?

I think that's mostly it. Basically since Flocks only use is for the systematic tracking of people for use by police and government agencies, it's a lot easier to get people to turn against it. There's just no upside to them that any individual would ever benefit from.

It's sad because if/when Flock dies the death of deserves, the software/infrastructure will likely just get sold off and reapplied to some other deployment scheme like Ring quietly forgoing the big Superbowl Ad.

by rigrassm

5/31/2026 at 6:47:25 PM

>the most egregious abuses of privacy

wait until you hear about EU's EES

by nenadg

5/31/2026 at 7:25:00 PM

do you really believe your biometrics being checked once when you enter a continent as a foreigner is the same as being videotaped at every moment in your own country as a citizen?

by riffraff

5/31/2026 at 8:22:22 PM

Nice work all. But am quite unhappy with their new map. Doesn’t work with my hardened machine with webgl off or my old phone. For some obscure reason, the button to try the “legacy” map (from last month) does not come up most of the time. So several times recently the site has been inaccessible to me.

by mixmastamyk

5/31/2026 at 7:32:31 PM

How is this data storage even legal? I mean having cameras out that will sound an alarm if one of N specific wanted cars pass by is one thing. But do these cars just store stuff for later use and abuse? Who approved that?

by alkonaut

5/31/2026 at 7:44:45 PM

They aren’t and no one legitimately did. This is extrajudicial surveillance state stuff

by SOLAR_FIELDS

5/31/2026 at 8:33:09 PM

[dead]

by clear-octopus

5/31/2026 at 6:32:07 PM

It's ironic seeing this here since Flock is YCombinator company.

by curiousgal

5/31/2026 at 6:33:58 PM

I dunno if it is ironic. Most of us recognize that technology itself is a tool. It can be used in any number of ways including ones in which some portions of the population may disagree with.

by iugtmkbdfil834

5/31/2026 at 6:40:20 PM

I don't know about that, nothing about their pitch indicated anything but what their technology is currently used for.

by curiousgal

5/31/2026 at 6:44:54 PM

I will give you a weird, but current, example. TSLA ( and virtually all companies that center on Musk as its director -- in the original sense of the word before HR title inflation took it down ) may say one thing about what the plan for the tech is, but, even occasional review of their positioning shows that the "what their technology is currently used for" is in near constant flux. Honestly, the fact that his investors keep rewarding it is beyond me.

by iugtmkbdfil834

5/31/2026 at 7:32:05 PM

Surveillance and privacy invasion is profitable, so not ironic at all.

by Refreeze5224

5/31/2026 at 6:41:47 PM

Speed cameras next. They’re just revenue generators and part of a safetyism Trojan horse for surveillance.

by SilverElfin

5/31/2026 at 5:18:54 PM

this is great. I mean I'm all for the argument in the abstract. my commute is 2.5 miles one way, and I get tagged 20 times in each direction. that kind of brings it home.

by convolvatron

5/31/2026 at 6:20:48 PM

The senior director of connectivity there is former IDF.

Probably nothing.

by kumarski

5/31/2026 at 7:41:53 PM

Since military service is mandatory in Israel, it means that basically any Israeli (with the exception of Hasidic Jews), male or female, is, not by choice, ex-IDF. It isn't a signal of their choices, or willing participation, just of where they were born.

If you don't know this, now you do. If you knew this already...

by snovv_crash

5/31/2026 at 6:53:27 PM

Most of the leadership is from Georgia Tech. Who are you talking about?

I have been corrected: Eyal H. is the Senior Director of Connectivity at Flock Safety

Login to: https://theorg.com/org/flock-safety/offices/hq , if you dare.

by Supermancho

5/31/2026 at 7:07:44 PM

Eyal Hershko is the current Senior Director of Connectivity at Flock Safety.

by kumarski